Gameday Experience: SJEQ v. RBNY, July 27th 2008. Huckerby's Home Debut.

To all who attended today's match, how was the gameday atmosphere?

What worked? What didn't work? How did the crowd sound? Did we show some love to our new players? Were the supporters sections in full voice today?

Did anyone check out The Hut before or after the game? Have any establishments emerged yet as the preferred pre-game Earthquakes headquarters?

Share your thoughts and ideas for those of us who couldn't make it out to Buck Shaw today. Thanks!

hey people, im gary, a massive norwich city fan, im from england, originally from norwich but now reside in milton keynes, the most americanised place outside the usa. i am just replying to this thread cos i see that hux had scored for the earthquakes today and i am so pleased for him. can i just say, wow, what a player he is! he was the best ever signing for norwich city and if he can give yourselves as half as much as he gave us you will do really well. i will now follow the earthquakes especially now that hux has joined you. cant wait for when you play the galaxy, he will make becks look like a numpty. his pace is electric and the ball seems to stick to his foot, unlike beckham who's only strength is putting in a 60 yard pass every 10 minutes. who wants to see that? exactly, i would rather see a guy skinning defenders down the wing leaving them in his wake.
anyway, look forward to keeping up with the earthquakes and hux's progression through the season. good luck!

I was at the game and although we outplayed new york we just didn't have the finishing touch. johnson was through a few times and hit several shots straight at the keeper. the new signings looked solid, lima looked class in the middle, huckerby put in a few good balls and scored our goal, and sealy made some good runs.

shea salinas looked dangerous when he came on, i would definitely like to see more of him as he provides some good pace/quickness out on the wing.

as for the crowd, it was pretty shit as usual to be honest.

the supporters sections were really quiet today i was very dissapointed in them. they hardly made any noise and to be honest there was hardly any difference between the level of noise in the supporters sections and in the rest of the crowd.

http://www.1906ultras.com
http://www.thecasbah.org

Feel free to join the cause. If not, shut the fuck up.

I don't know where you sit, but, from the university side both the Casbah and Ultras sounded great and brought it on for the full 90.

From the pitch, you could hear the ultras quite well most of the time, and the Casbah pretty well sometimes. I thought the groups represented pretty darn well.

no need for the language buddy

i do my part and yell as loud as i can wherever i'm sitting, i don't think i should have to pay an additional 25 dollars to be part of a supporters group to "join the cause" of being an earthquakes fan when i'm probably a bigger fan than half of the people in the supporters groups.

I didn't realize that you had to pay to stand with them.

BTW, I noticed that they didn't scan my ticket, just tore off the stub, which is one of the recommendations we came up with here on BigSoccer. Actually I think it was ThreeApples' idea. You can scan the stubs later. There was no backup getting into the stadium, but doing that will make a big difference for a big crowd. It would have really helped for the Becks game in Oakland. Tearing is much faster than scanning, probably by an order of magnitude.

There's plenty of things you could do to help that doesn't require you spending $25. For example: constructive criticism.

alright then:

split up the supporters groups and have them sit in bunches throughout the crowd so that we can spread the atmosphere throughout the whole stadium and not just have songs and cheers going in two corners of the stadium.

Yeah, what's with the $25.00?

http://www.1906ultras.com/1906_Ultras/join/

"While it is not necessary to be an official member in order to stand with us, it is recommended as all proceeds help fund group activities."

Okay, gotcha. Thanks.

I appreciate the efforts the Casbah and Ultras put in and they were great most of the game. It got super quiet at times during the game though and it would be nice to have the Casbah pick it up when it gets most quiet. Sitting near by in 108 it seemed like a song was on its way and then petered out. I would be willing to pitch in to maybe get some baloons or streamers to pass out through 108 next to the Casbah to help our section show a little more. It might be nice too if a couple members from the Casbah could come down to 108 to help organize a few chants with them.

The more offense minded the Quakes play too the more the crowd naturally seems to get into it, I think the day games make everyone sluggish though.

The day games suck. It kills our preparation for the game and with a noon start we just don't have the time we need to get ourselves ready. We really did the best we could today but it was hot and we just never got our rhythm that we normally get moving from chant to chant. I can't speak for the Casbah but I really think the day games are a problem.

The crowd wasn't singing century-old pub songs or anything, but every challenge and break up the field was cheered like people were definitely paying attention.

The heat kinda kills the atmosphere a bit. I also think there are a lot of regulars on vacation. I am not knocking any new attendees by any means but I've noticed that first timers just aren't that vocal on their first visit.

I only saw a handful of my usual neighbors in 104 today and there were a lot of newcomers amidst a few empty seats.

That is what I thought. My question was not a criticism. I have "joined" the Casbah and 1906Ultras and gladly donated my $25 each to support their efforts, yet, I choose not to sit in those areas. From my seat on the University side both groups come in loud and clear. Keep up the good work guys.

And FYI, both groups give you a supporters scarf if you donate to them.

I watched the game on TV and I could hear the Ultras almost the entire game. Considering the diminished numbers for the day game, I was very impressed. The Casbah was pretty loud too, but yet again, overdid it on the drums. They really drowned out everything.

every game ive been able to attend, ive stood and chanted my ass off with the ultras. i do not have the memberships, but i still have to buy the $22 ticket everytime. id rather stand with the ultras and have a blast then have middle-aged losers telling me to sit down.

im not sure where you are getting off telling the rest of us that we arent as big fans as you are. it's too opinion-based. its great you think you are the biggest earthquake fan, but what good does it do you to act like you are above everyone else??????

sure the ultras weren't up to speed today. hell, by halftime, i was one of the few still there, the rest waiting for a beer. so no matter what, they support their team be it song or drink. someone once mentioned that we arent for your entertainment, we are here to sing and shout and chant SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES at the top of my lungs, professing my loyalty to the best team around.

but if its chanting and enjoying a football match with us, feel free to stand with us. so long as you have a ticket into the game, feel free to join.

(btw ultras, someday ill pay the 25)

im getting pretty sick of the elitist attitude some of the supporter groups have towards everyone who criticizes them.

Oh well, people tend to react to being criticised. I watched on tape delay TV today, can't wait for a Saturday evening game so I can go to the game. I heard the Ultras and the Casbah. I can't say that I heard you. Seemed like its the people who don't sit/stand in the supporters sections that are the quietest, yet complain the loudest about crowd noise.